The Girl From Diana Park

by Alec Peche

  “Yeah, I know what you mean about the parents. I'm kind of angry with them for shortchanging Hermione of many normal teenage things like sleep-overs. At this point in her life, I think we're better parents than the real ones are.”

  They spent a few more minutes chatting before Ariana turned the fire off and took the blankets inside. She and Damian got a quick kiss in, and then he was off, across the bay to his island home.

  Chapter 29

  Sunday was a quiet day after all the hyperactivity of the day before. Damian expected another contingent of crime scene technicians arriving at his island early as rain was forecasted for the afternoon. He hoped they would finish and leave so he would have some time to clean before the rain hit. He wanted to rake the beach to cover the green dye and pepper juice in hopes that any wildlife sunbathing on his small beach or island cliffs would not be threatened by it. He assumed that the crime scene people would remove any bullets or shell casings as evidence. He supposed there were even empty magazines on his island, but he'd be the first to say he didn't know the correct terms for parts of a gun. He'd love to get an early start on the clean-up. But really he was afraid to step outside for fear of damaging any evidence. He called Officer Bishop to see what the day's plans were and was assured they would be there soon and likely not spend more than an hour or two on the island.

  He decided to go down to his lab and get some work done on his GPS crystals. He was aware of the microchips that pet owners used, but he wanted something smaller and better for parents. Something that wouldn't have to be removed when they reached a certain age but rather would expire and stop sending signals after five years of use. Pet chips also worked via radio-frequency when scanned. His assumption with children though was they needed to be tracked to find them rather than be able to scan them once they were found. So maybe he needed a solar battery in the chip that would recharge itself so that it could emit a pulse say once every thirty minutes for five years. So he'd need a battery that would pulse 90,000 times then disappear. Since he saw it being applied like a tattoo and lying on top of the skin, it just needed to fade away. He also needed it to be invisible so that child abductors wouldn't slice the skin off the child trying to get rid of the transmitter. What a gruesome idea, he thought.

  He was startled from his thoughts by the alarm going off. He quickly scooted on his rolling chair over to his security terminal and saw the approach of law enforcement in a patrol boat. He put aside his thought of emitters and went outside to talk to them from atop his cliff. After a shouted conversation, he learned that they had everything they needed close to the house and would only be collecting evidence from the cliff side and beach. That explanation gave Damian the go-ahead to clean up the upper lawn of his island. He'd drop the green dye and pepper spray packets, and he spent a few moments thinking about what he wanted to do about it. The incoming rain would help dilute the potion, and as the soil was fairly sandy beneath his lawn, he'd add some sand from down below, and then cut his grass sooner than usual to see to the disappearance of the neon green.

  He was finishing up when the techs came up the hill to ask him questions.

  “We would like to film the operation of your water cannons and drone swarm as evidence.”

  Damian thought, how do I get out of this? Again he didn't want the news media showing coverage of his island's weapons on the evening news.

  “I'd rather not do that. Could I create a computer graphic to demonstrate my system? Of course, that's in addition to the footage I gave the police yesterday of the real fight we had here. Is that enough?”

  “Why don't you want us operating your equipment and filming that?”

  “Frankly I don't want my equipment damaged by amateur operators.”

  “I heard you had a teenager operating the water cannons.”

  “Yes but she's trained and plays a video game that shoots water off an island like this. What's your training?”

  “I admit I neither play video games nor have I used water cannons. I guess we'll have a go with your computer graphic, but we reserve the right to come back and try your technology in the future.”

  Damian nodded and walked them down to the beach where their boat was anchored, carrying a rake and shovel to see what he could do to clean the place up. He'd let out a sigh of relief when he saw the boat heading back toward San Francisco. No more visitors other than guests he invited to his island in the near future. He stood looking at the hillside and sandy beach with its sea of green dye splashes, then he looked towards the clouds in the sky and checked the weather. He had at most two hours before the rain hit, so he got to work raking the sand. When the color was more even to his satisfaction, a pale lime, he moved over to the hillside and looked at the damage there and indeed it wasn't bad. He surveyed his island once more and decided he'd let Mother Nature cure the remaining problems with a little rain.

  The cats had been keeping him company outside and now returned with him indoors, perhaps sensing the impending rainstorms. They always said pets could detect changes in the weather better than their human owners could.

  By the next morning there was no word from the Marshals Service, and so the three of them treated the day as if it was a regular Monday. Hermione was at school, Ariana had business with one of her start-ups and Damian was at his office in Richmond chatting with staff.

  He and Lily were chatting about molecules and how to make the kid tattoo work. He was expecting Pete at any moment with the final plans for his restaurant and bar. Pete wanted to share them with him and his staff as he figured they were the first customers that would need to be satisfied. The whole gang was excited to see what he planned, and so when he showed up mid-morning, everyone dropped what they were doing and gathered around. They were pleased to see he would have more taps for craft beer. The space his original restaurant had was limited, and he had nowhere to expand the taps as he lacked the space for the kegs; besides when he'd opened the first restaurant, craft beer wasn't as popular as it was today. No one could think of anything to add other than a special occasion room, but Pete had no desire to expand his bar and restaurant in that direction. Damian sat back a moment thinking about how his life had changed over the past year or so. He felt so lucky to have found the employees he had, in addition to Ariana and Hermione.

  After Pete left and everyone was back at their desks, he got an email from Natalie that provided information about Olivia Roth. The family was putting itself back together. Jennifer Shields pleaded guilty to child abduction charges and would serve three years in state prison and pay a $10,000 fine. Stupid woman. If she had just given Olivia up after a month or so, she'd be back to her regular life now. While she hadn't physically hurt the little girl, she had kept her away from her family for five long years.

  Damian had a quiet night, checking in with Ariana and Hermione to see if they had any unexpected guests or perhaps felt that someone was watching them. In theory, the Marshals Service could go into Hermione's high school and just take her to live with her parents. Damian was glad they hadn't had to suffer through that so far.

  Wednesday rolled around, and Damian affixed a tripod to the top of a small set of bleachers that were available on the field. He checked the view and was assured he could see the entire field. He waited for the game to begin so he could hit the record button then take a seat next Ariana. Soon he forgot he was recording the game while and became caught up rooting for Hermione's team. Hermione was correct in that she would see more action at her side of the field. She'd blocked five kicks already. Each time, the ball had gotten too far in front of the girl kicking it so she was able to step out from the net and kick it as far as she could and then hope her own forwards would take it to the opposite net. After the halftime, she saw a switch in strategy for Hermione's team that meant all the action was at the opposite net.

  As usual, after a game, they waited for her to clear the locker room, and then they left for burgers at a restaurant in town. Hermione was entranced with the video that Dam
ian had made. It was better than the one the coach made as it was higher up. She studied it intently making remarks.

  “Are you thinking of making a career in broadcasting?” Damian asked.

  “Huh?” Hermione asked.

  “You're narrating the game like a commentator.”

  “Oh, sorry. It's just so easy to see where we didn't excel in this game. I'm going to email the video to our coach. I'd email it to my teammates, but I guess that I should let the coach do that.”

  “Yeah, you should let the coach do that,” Ariana said. “Sharing film is a coach thing to do. Also, you don't want to take the lead to criticize all of your teammates – let the coach do that.”

  “Yeah, I know. It's just I can see our mistakes so well with this film unlike I've been able to before. I guess the coach hasn't recorded from that angle perhaps because he was afraid his cell phone would be stolen since he can't keep an eye on it and us at the same time. Can I volunteer you to film all of the games?”

  “Sure kiddo. If I'm not able to attend one of your games, Ariana can do the same thing with her phone, and I'll leave the tripod I used here with you.”

  Hermione smiled her thanks and said, “I noticed some guys in suits at the school today. They didn't talk to me or seem to be staring at me, but they looked a little overdressed compared to everyone else. Maybe they were checking my records at the principal's office.”

  “I think they would have to have a search warrant for that,” Ariana said. “Not that they couldn't get one, but your records are private, and only Damian and I are supposed to be able to view them.”

  “We still haven't heard a peep from the Marshals Service. They could have looked in the school yearbook for information about you – that's public information. It would have your pictures from the sports teams you've been on as well as a school picture. I'm going to send the link for your soccer game video to the original account for your parents to watch and I'll be able to see the number of views but not necessarily that your parents are viewing it, but I don't know why the Marshals Service wouldn't share it with your parents. It shows that you're talented and happy.”

  “Cool,” was all the teenager said around a mouthful of burger.

  Damian had to give the kid credit, she was good at letting go of things she couldn't do anything about and enjoying the here and now.

  Once they returned to Ariana's house, Damian said goodnight to Hermione as she walked down the hallway to her bedroom to do the night's homework. She had straight “As” and seemed intent on continuing academic success.

  Damian spent some time talking to Ariana about plans for the remainder of the week, Hermione had another soccer game that Friday and they were on the watch for any action the U.S. Marshals might take. Dating was on hold until they had clarification of Hermione's status. With an extended goodbye kiss, he was striding down the dock to his boat with a promise to be back on Friday for the game.

  On Thursday, he received some much-needed information from the SFPD. His single question had been how did they know who he was and where he lived? He was grateful that the same attack hadn't occurred at Ariana's house as she didn't have the defenses that she did while she did have a faster police response. If they hadn't reached the end of corrupt pharmaceutical companies from Asia trying to kill Hermione's parents, he would have looked at some angles to protect her property.

  In a plea deal, someone on board the ship revealed that there were surveillance cameras on top of the yacht and they reviewed the footage because the police arrived so quickly after the dead body was found. His identity and location had been discovered through the call letters on his speedster boat captured on the camera footage. It was registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles, and it had taken a while to track him to his home in the bay. He received his mail through a P.O. Box in Richmond, but they had tracked him beyond that post office box. He was glad, he hadn't been attacked at his warehouse in Richmond which also didn't have any defensive systems. The yacht owners must have concluded that he could get help much sooner in Richmond than he would on an isolated island in the Bay.

  He and Ariana were back at a different high school soccer field on Friday, this time an away game. Fortunately, there were again a set of bleachers that he was able to set his phone up on a high point to capture the match. The coach had briefly thanked him before the start of the game for the excellent recording of the previous game, and other parents had asked to see it, so he was going to begin posting it to a site they could all reach and watch. As they had only a day of practice between games, Damian wasn't hopeful that there would be an improvement but who knew what miracles a coach might create.

  He was surprised to see some improvement. It was as though each girl had more faith in her teammates having seen their skills on video, and there was less clustering near the ball. Hermione's team had another decisive win and Damian and Ariana checked the high school schedule for playoff dates to add to their calendar. Admittedly, it was still early in the season, but they were undefeated.

  Damian posted the game video sending everyone links including his SFPD address that seemed to reach Hermione's parents. They had another quiet weekend with no word from the U.S. Marshals. Damian thought them rather slow, but then he'd gone to great lengths to protect his privacy which would make them suspicious of him.

  Chapter 30

  Ariana had just finished dropping Hermione off at school, and she was returning home to get her boat to head over to Damian's Island where they would commute to the warehouse for her to get some work done on site in Richmond.

  There was a strange car parked on the street close to her driveway. It was a sedan, but usually, there wasn't a car parked in that location. After her recent bad experience with her stalker, she had the full security system on which meant that if the vehicle followed her car on her driveway with open windows, its driver would be sprayed with pepper juice. As the system turned off with a sensor from her car, she was curious as to whether it would come back on immediately and spray the car. She thought a nanosecond about warning the occupants of the car, but then decided they hadn't called and made an appointment, and so she would keep her defense systems up until some identification was shown. If the driver got sprayed, well then she hoped he wouldn't lose control of his brakes and crash into her house. Then she thought of Miguel in the house and knew she didn't want him hurt by an out of control car, so she turned off the security system and sighed over the worthless internal argument she'd had with herself.

  She pulled into her garage and then waited for the approach of the sedan just at the edge of the door. She could see there were at least two people in the car.

  As they exited the car, she held up her cell phone and said, “I have my local police station on the other line, one at a time, approach and show me your ID,” then she said into the phone, “There are two people that got out of a car and one is approaching with her identification, please hold.”

  When the woman was within five feet, she held up a badge that said, 'FBI'. Ariana had never seen a badge before but thought it looked real. She said into the phone, “The badge says FBI, I'm going to end our call now, but send an officer out in ten minutes if I don't call back and say everything's okay.” She pretended to listen, then hit a button on her phone as if to end the call. There was no reason to reveal to these two that the call had never been connected in the first place.

  “Are you always this suspicious of people?” the man asked holding out his identification.

  “I'm Special Agent Mark Tauscher, and this is Special Agent Susan Abbott.”

  “I am. I have reason to be. My person and my home have been attacked in the past year or so. What do you want?” Ariana asked in her most unfriendly voice.

  “Are you Ariana Knowles?” Abbott asked.

  “Yes.”

  “We're here to conduct an investigation about a child by the name of Hermione Knowles,” replied Special Agent Abbott.

  Ariana was unexpectedly scared by
the question. When she and Damian went down the path of taking care of Hermione, she'd never thought of the moment of being interviewed by the FBI about that decision. Now she knew she looked and felt like a child abductor.

  “So, what's your question?”

  “How long has the child resided at this location?” asked Special Agent Tauscher. His sunglasses were hiding any expressiveness of his face.

  “Almost a year,” Ariana aimed to keep her responses as short and as vague as possible.

  “She attends school near here?” Abbott asked.

  “Yes, she attends high school. It's where she is now.”

  “We know. Frankly, this is the strangest case we've ever investigated. On the surface, it appears that two rational adults took in a teenager on the run and didn't report her to the police or foster care system.”

  “Actually, her guardian lives on an island in San Francisco Bay, and as there's no school's nearby, I agreed to care for her after her parents died in a car accident. She's attended school in this district over the past year.”

  “We know, we checked out the yearbooks at her school last week. She's a member of the National Honor Society which means she has good grades and she's on the swim team.”

  “Also the water polo and soccer team,” Ariana added with pride in her voice.

  “Why does she have your last name?” Special Agent Abbott asked.

  “We started out with her original name, which is Smith, but that got too hard to be constantly comparing her last name to mine, so we changed it.”

  “How did you do that? I see she has a passport issued in your last name, but I could find no change of name in the Marin County Court records for that name change,” Tauscher said.